About Us
From Humble Beginnings
From humble beginnings in 2018, The Milieu Therapeutic Services, its divisions and subsidiaries seek to be a premiere provider of behavioral health services both in person and utilizing the best technology to complete our mission. Our primary focus is on Telehealth and how it can best be used to reach individuals that would not ordinarily have access to quality care. We also support on-site evaluations, training, and other services as part of our Special Operations division, and clinical services through our website tmtsonline.com.
Our Market Share
A Milieu is a Place Where Change takes Place
Our Values
Honesty
We are honest and truthful in all our dealings, and we do not deliberately mislead or deceive others by misrepresentations, overstatements, partial truths, selective omissions, or any other means.
Integrity
We demonstrate personal integrity and the courage of our convictions by doing what we think is right even when there is great pressure to do otherwise. We are principled, honorable, loyal, and upright; we will fight for our beliefs. We will not sacrifice principles for expediency, be hypocritical, or unscrupulous.
Fairness
We are fair and just in all dealings. We do not exercise power arbitrarily and do not use overreaching or indecent means to exert advantage. We do not take advantage of someone’s mistakes or difficulties. Fair persons manifest a commitment to justice, the equal treatment of individuals, and tolerance for and acceptance of diversity.
Leadership
We are conscious of the responsibilities and opportunities of our position and seek to be positive and ethical role models by our own conduct and helping to create an environment in which principled reasoning and ethical decision making are highly prized. We are well informed and prepared, and constantly endeavor to increase our proficiency in all areas of responsibility.
Reputation and Morale
We seek to protect and build the company’s good reputation and the morale of our clients by engaging in no conduct that may undermine respect, and by taking whatever actions are necessary to correct or prevent inappropriate conduct of others.
Respect for Others
We demonstrate respect for human dignity, autonomy, privacy, rights, and interests of all those that have a stake in their decisions. We are courteous and treat others with equal respect and dignity because they are human. We are caring, compassionate, benevolent, and kind. We will demonstrate good stewardship for our company, our discipline, and ourselves.
GET TO KNOW
Our Founder
Graduating with a Masters Degree in Counseling from Argosy University in 2007, Willard moved back to his home state of Virginia to practice and develop his own unique approach to therapy. He began in outpatient therapy at a rural clinic in Surry, Virginia, and from there progressed into the realm of crisis intervention counseling. Being a licensed clinician and having nearly twenty years of experience in the mental health field, he brings his knowledge of the field and its various moving parts to The Milieu Therapeutic Services as its CEO and its chief provider.
Willard A Vaughn, MA LPC, CPSC
Chief Executive Officer
Clinical Teams
A clinical team consists of one or more of the following
Licensed Mental Health Professional
(LMHP)
A LMHP is a clinician who meets the education, training, and supervised experience standards for licensure as an LPC, LCSW, MFT, Psychologist, or Psychiatrist.
Resident in Counseling/Social Work
(LMHP-R)
A clinician with at least a Masters Degree who is gathering supervised experience toward being a LMHP.
Certified Preadmission Screening Clinician
(CPSC)
A CPSC is a licensed or unlicensed clinician with at least a Masters Degree or an RN with the required training and precepting to have obtained the certification.
Qualified Mental Health Provider
(QMHP)
A QMHP is a clinician who is unlicensed with at least a Bachelors Degree in Psychology or Human Services , or an RN or Occupational Therapist, who has completed at least 3000 hours of supervised experience.
Certified Substance Abuse Counselor
(CSAC)
A CSAC is a clinician with at least a Bachelors Degree who has completed requisite education and at least 2000 hours supervised experience.
Certified Peer Recovery Specialist
(CPRS)
A Peer Specialist is a provider with lived experience in recovery and who has completed the requisite training to register with the Board of Counseling.
A Brief History of Telehealth
The beginning of telehealth can be traced as far back as 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. About 38 years later, the television was invented by Archibald Low. Combining these technologies is something that would be experimented with for the next hundred years.
Between 1905 and 1910, doctors at various universities around the world were able to use the telephone to transmit electrocardiograms and even the heart sounds themselves across the wires. About ten years later with the advent of two way radios, doctors were making their services available to commercial ships, and people began talking about the "radio doctor".
The first use of telehealth in the mental health field was in 1963 at the University of Nebraska who utilized the new technology for psychiatric consultations at their hospital over 100 miles away. This lead to even more use cases for both medicine and mental health as well as government funding for programs such as the Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care (STARPAHC) which was first used by astronauts and then developed for use with indigenous people.
Parallel to the development of telehealth technologies was the invention of what is now the internet. The Department of Defense funded the Advanced Research Project Agency that would go on to link college campuses across the country. The first computers built to run the internet had 24 KB of memory. File transfers and email was online by 1973.
Though the internet as we know it was operational by the early 1970s, it would not be available to the general public until the 1990s. From there, the first synchronous audio/video technology was invented by MIT in 1984, and sparked interest from AT&T who would try without success to market the idea commercially. The late 1990s saw the invention of the Polycom, a video conferencing device that is still used today, and is still considered the most secure form of synchronous communication. However, this technology was still cost prohibitive in many cases.
In 2003 software engineers invented Skype which went on to be one of the most recognizable (but not secure) desktop conferencing software applications. This was later purchased by Microsoft in 2011. Technology saw a boom in the 2000s and what in the 1970s filled an entire room can now be held in the palm of your hand. With most of the United States having cellular data coverage, mental health treatment can now meet you where you are in the comfort of your own home, and on your schedule.